A. The Nature of Writing - The Effect Of Peer Correction And Teacher Written Feedback On The Paragraph Writing Ability At The Third Semester Students Of English Study Program Of STAIN Palangka Raya - Digital Library IAIN Palangka Raya

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consisted of the nature of writing, writing process,
writing a paragraph, the structure of paragraph, the elements of paragraph, ESL
writing, writing ability, feedback, peer correction, teacher written feedback, an
experiment study and analysis of variance (ANOVA).
A. The Nature of Writing
Naturally, language learners acquire a language starting from the
listening activity. Afterward, they come to the speaking activity.
Gradually, they move to the reading activity. When language learners
write, they are engaged in an activity, which is usually at the same time
both private and public. It is private because the act of composition is by its
nature solitary. However, it is also public in that most writing is intended
for an audience. When language learners write, they usually have
someone in mind that will read what they wrote. They write notes, diary,
memos, reports, and letters to others, here, they also have a purpose to
write.21
Writing is amongst the most prominent skills that language learners
need to learn as an essential component of their academic practice and later
on in their professional life, which partially explains why teaching writing

21

Jerry G. Gebhard, Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language- A Teacher Selfdevelopment and Methodology Guide, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000, p. 221.

14
15

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has prompted a good deal of research that covers various aspects of its broad
instructional contexts.22
Dulay stated that writing is only one mode in which both linguistics
manipulation task and communication task have been given. 23 According to
Fauziati, writing as a process is oriented towards work in progress and
development of new skills, rather than merely evaluative task, the
classroom practices, therefore, will vary from each other. 24
In addition, when language learners start to write, they use graphic
symbols to express ideas. Graphic symbols can be letters or combination
of letters. They also go through a process of creating and recreating a
piece of writing until the y are able to express ideas clearly. In this sense,

writing is a process of arranging the graphic symbols according certain
convention or requirement to form words and then words will be
produced into a sentence. To prepare to write, some writers make draft,
sketch, and cluster related ideas or outlines.
As students write, they put ideas into draft form; they also take
breaks to read the draft. They reflect on whether or not their writing reveals
their intended meaning. They should also consider the purpose and
audience. As they read over the draft, they may cross out paragraphs,
sentences, and words. They also rearrange the way they present ideas, and

Grami Mohammad A. Grami, „The Effect of Teachers Written Feedback on ESL
Students Perception: A Study in a Saudi ESL University-Level Context‟, Annual Review of
Education: Communication and Language Sciences, Volume 2, 2005, p. 1
23
Dulay, Language Two, New York: Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 226.
24
Fauziati Endang, Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Surakarta: Muhammadiyah
University Press, 2002, p. 151.
22

17

jot down notes about how to revise writing. They continue to write and
read and change the draft until they are satisfied with the piece of
writing.25
Based on the definition above, it can be stated that writing is an
activity of someone to write something as like notes, diary, memos,
reports, letters, etc to others from words become sentence.
B. Writing Process
Jarum et al. in Littell divides the process writing into four stages:
prewriting, writing a first draft, revising, and preparing the final
composition. 26 In other hand, Alice Oshima and Ana Hague said that there
are four main stages in the writing process prewriting, organizing, writing
and polishing (revising and editing).27 In addition, Gebhard mentions the
four stages of the process writing: prewriting, drafting, revising, and
editing. 28
Following the study, the process writing stages include prewriting
(planning), whilst writing (including drafting and revising) and post writing
(including editing, final draft and proofreading). In details, the three stages
are presented below.

The first stage is Prewriting involves everything the writer does
25

Jerry G. Gebhard, Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language- A Teacher Selfdevelopment and Methodology Guide, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000, p. 221.
26
Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang,
Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, 2007, p. 8.
27
Alice Oshima and Ana Hague, Intoduction to Academic Writing Third Edition, New
York: Pearson Education, 2007, p. 15.
28
Jerry G. Gebhard, Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language- A Teacher Selfdevelopment and Methodology Guide, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000, p.226.

18

before beginning the actual task of writing, including activating background
knowledge, generating ideas, and making plans for approaching the writing
task. In the prewriting stage, a writer decides the interesting topic.
Prewriting covers a wide variety of activities. There are numerous

prewriting techniques that the writers can use to generate ideas as they
begin

to

write,

namely:

listing, clustering, brainstorming, strategic

questioning and free writing. 29
Listing is a prewriting technique in which a writer list down on a
paper as many thoughts as he has and as quickly as he can. The ideas or
thoughts related to topic that comes out from the mind of the writer are
listed and they become the basic source of information for the writing.
Clustering or word mapping is a prewriting technique of making a
visual map of ideas. In clustering, the writers use a key word placed in the
center of a page, then, jot down all the free associations.30
Brainstorming is also a good technique to generate ideas and to get

information that a writer needs. Jarum et al. in Smalley, et al. states that
brainstorming is a way to associate and stimulate thinking. It permits writers
to approach a topic with an open mind.31
Strategic questioning lets the writers consider the topic through a series

29

Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang,
Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, 2007, p.13.
30
Jerry G. Gebhard, Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language- A Teacher Selfdevelopment and Methodology Guide, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000, p.226.
31
Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang,
Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, 2007, p.15.

19

of question. Here, the writers answer a set of questions designed to guide the

writing, such as “what do you want to write about?” “what is your goal?”
what do you need to find out?” here, writer are given chances to consider
what they know and need to learn about the writing topic.
Free writing is writing freely without stopping, letting thoughts
flow without regarding to connection and direction whether an idea makes
sense or not. Free writing provides writers with chances to put ideas into
writing. Here, a writer can write freely whatever comes to his mind. The
writer can write freely, starting with a bank sheet a pen and letting thought
flow without worrying about grammar and word choice. It is a way of
releasing and stimulating the power of thought and imagination. 32
The second stage is whilst writing, which includes drafting and
revising. After having generated idea, a writer needs to write the first draft.
Jarum et al. in Mc Crimmon states that drafting is a series of strategies
designed to organize and develop a sustained piece of writing.33
As they compose. The writer begins to determine what to include
and exclude, and make initial decisions about how these ideas will be
organized. While writing first draft, the writer should focus on getting
meaning down on paper; but they should not be overly concerned with
grammatical correctness. In the process of writing, drafting is viewed as an

32

Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang,
Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, 2007, p.16.
33
Ibid, p.18.

20

important strategy. Drafting is the core of writing process.34
The next step after drafting is revising. Revising is process of
rethinking and changing what is written.35 Jarum et al. in D‟Angelo states that
revision is making improvement on the original paper by arranging and
reorganizing ideas, rephrasing sentences, deleting and adding completely new
material.36 In revising, writers rethink and rewrite the first draft forming the
second draft. Sometimes ideas are added and sometimes are omitted.
The third stage is the post writing (including editing, final draft and
proofreading). Editing paragraph is the last stages in the process of writing.
Editing refers to correcting grammatical errors, rewriting misspelled word,

and changing punctuation.37
In this stage, the writers are required to proof-read the composition
(final draft) for grammatical and sentence structure errors. Here, the writers
turn their attention from the major substance of paragraph to its
conventional features (spelling, capitalization, and punctuation).
In addition, the writers can do proofreading activity individually or in
pairs using editing guideline. Proofreading is a unique type of reading in
which students read slowly, word by word, hunting for error rather reading
quickly for meaning. This activity takes place before the final product.
34

Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang,
p. 16.
35
Alice Oshima and Ana Hague, Intoduction to Academic Writing Third Edition, New York:
Pearson Education, 2007, p. 18.
36
Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang,

p.13.
37
Ibid, p.15.

21

The next step is publishing, which is the time for students to prepare
their final composition to be shared with audience, such as classmate, group
member, or teachers. Through this stage, the students communicate with
genuine audience who respond the writing in meaningful way.38
C. Writing a Paragraph
A paragraph is a series of sentence developing one topic. Alice
Oshima and Ann Hogue stated that “a paragraph is a group of related
statements that a writer develops about a subject”.39 In other hand, Jack C.
Richards and Ricard Schmidt stated that “a paragraph is a unit of
organization of written language in many languages, which serves to
indicate how main the ideas in a written text are grouped”.40
Based on the definition above, it can be stated that a paragraph is
a group of sentences dealing with a single topic or idea.
There are several kinds of paragraphs; one of them is a narrative. To

write a good narrative paragraph, a writer should follow some steps.
Jarum et al. in Littell points out there are three steps to write a narrative
paragraph, namely: prewriting, first draft and revision. In pre-writing, a
writer selects the general topic and narrows it, then, organizes the details
using chronological order. In the first draft, a writer refers to the prewriting notes and uses the transitional words and phrases to help him/her
38

Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang,
Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, 2007, p. 11.
39
Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Introduction to Academic Writing Third Edition, New
York: Pearson Education, 2007, p. 3.
40
Jack C. Richards and Ricard Schmidt, Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching &
Aplied Linguistics Third Edition , London: Pearson Education Published, 2010, p. 418.

22

recreate the flow of events. In revision, a writer goes over the rough draft
several times. A writer must check the draft: “Are the details logically
organized? Do any details need to be added or deleted?”41
In contrast, Jarum et al. in Ezor and Lewis argues that propose five
steps for building the paragraph. The first is selecting the topic. The second
is writing a general statement (topic sentence) about the topic. The third is
jotting down possible details about the topic. The fourth is developing
those details into supporting sentences. The fifth is reading the whole
paragraph and make whatever changes writers feel will improve their
writing. 42
Dealing with the paragraph writing, the first essential step is to
select the topic. The second step is to write a topic sentence about the
topic and provide details about the topic. The next step is to develop those
details into supporting sentence using facts, evidence, example, and so on.
The last step is to write the final draft.
D. The Structure of Paragraph
There are three parts of paragraph, topic sentence, supporting
sentences, and concluding sentences:
1. Topic sentence
Topic sentence is the most important sentence in a paragraph. Based
on Alice Oshima Ann Hogue, topic sentence has two parts: a topic and
41

Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang,
Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, 2007, p.19.
42
Ibid, p.17.

23

controlling idea.43 The topic names the subject of paragraph. The
controlling idea tells what the paragraph will say about the topic. It is
called the controlling idea because it controls or limits the topic to a very
specific point or points. Here are examples of topic sentences with
the same topic but different controlling idea:

Topic

Controlling Idea

a. Some marriages are a union of two individual

Topic

Controlling Idea

b. Some marriages take a place in unusual locations.

The position of topic sentence is usually in the first sentence in the
paragraph. But can be in the last paragraph also. A topic sentence at the
beginning of paragraph gives readers an idea of what they will read. This
helps them understand the paragraph easily.44
2.

Supporting Sentence
Supporting sentences explain the topic by giving more information
about it.45
Example:
“Owning a small car has several advantages. First a small car is
easier to park. Second economical BBM”.
43

Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Introduction to Academic Writing Third Edition, New
York: Pearson Education, 2007, p. 37.
44
Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Introduction to Academic Writing Third Edition, New York:
Pearson Education, 2007, p. 40.
45
Ibid, p. 44.

24

The sentence “First a small car is easier to park. Second
economical BBM” is called supporting sentence. Because it gives more
information about the topic (Owning a small car has several
advantages).46
3.

Concluding Sentence
A concluding sentence is a sentence that reminds the reader about
the main idea. Based on Alice Oshima Ana Hogue states that a
concluding sentence signals the end of the paragraph and reminds the
reader of the main idea.47
There are some tips to write a good concluding sentence, based on
Alice Oshima Ann Hogue‟s book “Introduction to Academic Writing”,
they are:
a.

Begin with a conclusion signal. Most conclusion signals have
commas after them; others do not:
Followed by a comma
1. All in all,
2. In brief,
3. In conclusion,
4. Indeed,
5. In short,
6. In summary,
7. To conclude,
8. To summarize

46

No Comma
1. It is clear that…….
2. These examples show that……
3. You can see that…..

Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Introduction to Academic Writing Third Edition, New
York: Pearson Education, 2007, p. 44.
47
Ibid, p. 47.

25

Example:
Example:
1. To
summarize, 1. It is clear that fad diets don‟t
work and may even damage a
Japanese food is both
dieter‟s health.
beautiful to look at
and delicious to eat.
2. Indeed, many U.S cities
and regions have a
special
food
for
everyone to enjoy.
b.

Remind the reader of the main idea by one of the following
methods.
1) Repeat the idea in the topic sentence in different words. Do not
just copy the topic sentence. Example:
“Successful bidding on eBay requires patience and strategy”.
In conclusion, wait patiently and place your bid with precision
timing and you will be the winning bidder every time.
2) Summarize the main points of the paragraph.
In conclusion, follow the steps I have outlined, and you will be
the winning.

c.

Never end the paragraph by introducing a new idea. 48

E. The Elements of Paragraph
In addition to the paragraph writing, a paragraph should have the
elements or the qualities of a good paragraph: unity, coherence,
completeness, and order.

48

Alice Oshima and Ann Hogue, Introduction to Academic Writing Third Edition , New
York: Pearson Education, 2007, p. 47.

26

1. Unity
Unity means that the ideas of the supporting sentences are all clearly
connected to the main idea. In other words, all the details are relevant to
the one controlling idea. Unity in a paragraph requires consistent
development of the idea that our paragraph intends to explain.
The paragraph as a whole should focus on one idea. The best way to
keep the paragraph unified is to be sure of what writers intended to do.
One way to make the intention clear is to begin with a topic sentence. By
beginning paragraph with a topic sentence writers immediately signal to
their readers the main idea that they will develop in that paragraph. All in
all, the points that make related in the writing are called unity of the
paragraph.
2.

Coherence.
Coherence means, “sticking together”. A paragraph is coherent when
the sentence are woven together in such a way that our reader can move
easily from one sentence to the next and read the paragraph as an
integrated whole. In other words, coherence is one important thing in
writing is connected between one sentence and other.

3.

Completeness
Completeness means that writers must provide a complete
explanation to make the reader understand. The information writers
provide is necessary for a complete explanation of the topic sentence.
How much explanation an idea requires depends on how much our

27

reader needs. Here, completeness is relative. It depends on the needs of
the reader.
4.

Order
Order deals with the sequence of the sentence within a paragraph. In
a well constructed paragraph the sentences follow a consistent order.
Order in paragraph is like organization in an essay. A paragraph that
lacks orderly movement will not be coherent, because the reader
will not see how the sentences are related, and therefore cannot go
easily from one to another.49

F. ESL Writing
It has already been established that learning to write in English as
second or a foreign language can be quite different from writing as a native
speaker and in many occasions even problematic. In fact, the literature of
ESL writing draws attention to various and significant differences between
first language and second language teaching contexts, which can generally be
attributed to the distinctive social and pedagogical features of each, in
addition to differences in linguistic competence and literacy skills of the
students.
Teacher written response continues to play a central role in most
second language writing classes. Many teachers do not feel that they have
done justice to students‟ efforts until they have written substantial comments
on their papers, justifying the grade they have given and providing a reader
Jarum and Sabarun, Laporan Penelitian Dosen Muda Improving Students’ Writing
Ability Through Cooperative Learning Strategy at the English Department of University Malang:
Malang: Universitas Malang, 2007, p. 20.
49

28

reaction. Similarly, many students see their teacher‟s feedback as crucial to
their improvement as writers.50
As for ESL writing teachers‟ position, also shows that teachers are
very much concerned with students‟ surface-level errors themselves. This
focus on linguistic accuracy probably originated from second language
students‟ linguistic incompetence, but other pedagogical and social influences
may still play a significant role. It can be concluded that previous research
findings clearly demonstrate that ESL students want, appreciate, and apply
the corrections they get from their teachers. In short, ESL teachers feel
obliged to correct writing errors, and students want them to do so.51
G. Writing Ability
Writing ability refers to the students‟ competence in applying the
components of writing were content, organization, vocabulary, language use
(grammar) and mechanic.52 The writing ability are complex and difficult to
teach, requiring mastery not only of grammatical and rhetorical devices but
also of conceptual and judgment elements. According to Heaton, the
following analysis attempts to group the many and varied skills
necessary for writing good prose into four main areas:53
1.

Grammatical skills: the ability to write correct sentences.

2.

Stylistic skills: the ability to manipulate sentences and use language

50

Jack C. Richards and Willy A. Renandya, Methodology in Language Teaching, New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 10.
51
Ibid, p. 11.
52
Seng Rianto, Using Indirect Feedback in Correcting Students’ Writing, Unpublished
Thesis, Padang: STKIP Sumatera Barat, 2010, p. 7.
53
John Brian Heaton, Language Testing, New York: Longman, 1987, p.138.

29

effectively.
3.

Mechanical skills: the ability to use correctly those conventions particular
to the written language, e.g. punctuation, spelling.

4.

Judgment skills: the ability to write in an appropriate manner for a
particular purpose with a particular audience in mind, together with an
ability to organize and order relevant information.

H. Feedback
1. Definition of Feedback
Feedback is input from a reader to a writer with the effect of
providing information to the writer for revision. In other words, it is the
comments, questions, and suggestions a reader gives a writer to produce
„reader-based prose‟ as opposed to „writer based prose. Feedback is
helpful not only for

students who receive it, the literature also

suggests that feedback is important for teachers as well, because it gives
them the opportunity to diagnose and assess the problematic issues in
learners‟ writing, and allows them to create a supportive teaching
environment. However, feedback needs to meet certain criteria, such as
the need to be specific and to focus on learning and process, rather than
on students themselves, in order to be effective.54
2. Importance of Feedback
Feedback is a crucial aspect in the writing process and that it plays
a central role in learning this skill. Providing learners of writing with
Mohammed Saleh Al-Hadaq, The Effect of Teachers’ Error Correction on the
Acquisition of Newly-Learned Vocabulary, Unpublished Thesis, Colchester: University of Essex,
2003, p. 8.
54

30

feedback, however, is not only intended to help them monitor their
progress, but also encourages them to take another‟s view and adapt a
message to it. Another valuable feature of feedback is that it serves as a
good indication of how ESL students are progressing in learning the
written language and, therefore, assists the teachers in diagnosing and
assessing their students‟ problematic areas.
Additionally, feedback is helpful in encouraging students not to
consider what they write as a final product and in helping them to write
multiple drafts and to revise their writing several times in order to
produce a much improved piece of writing. This can be adopted and
benefited from in a teaching situation where rewriting is encouraged.
That is, in a situation where the processes approach to writing is
employed.55
I.

Peer Correction
Peer correction (peer response, peer feedback/ peer editing) is a
technique in which learners review each other‟s work and comment on it.56
Peer correction can be defined as the: use of learners as sources of
information and interact ants for each other in such a way that learners
assume roles and responsibilities normally taken on by a formally trained
teacher, tutor, or editor in commenting on and critiquing each other‟s drafts
in both written and oral formats in the process of writing.

Mohammed Saleh Al-Hadaq, The Effect of Teachers’ Error Correction on the
Acquisition of Newly-Learned Vocabulary, Unpublished Thesis, Colchester: University of Essex,
2003, p. 9.
56
http://www.moe.gov.om/Portal/sitebuilder/sites/EPS/English/MOE/baproject/Ch8.pdf
(Accessed on November 24, 2013)
55

31

Peer correction takes many forms and serves many purposes. It has
already been mentioned that it can be employed in the form of
conferencing, in the form of written as well as oral comments, or both
simultaneously. This „flexibility‟ is another useful aspect of peer correction.
Peer correction can also take many formats, some of the most common ones
being: to assign groups of two, three, or four students and ask them to
exchange their first drafts and give comments on each others‟ drafts before
making final versions; to make students read their own paragraph aloud, or
get a colleague to read it instead, while the other students listen and provide
correction, either written or oral, on the work that they have just heard; is not
to restrict correction to the time after students have written their paragraph,
because it is possible for students to use this type of feedback in the prewriting stage by asking other students to comment on each others‟ outlines,
or to carry out a brainstorming session.57
Peer correction helps learners become more self-aware, in the sense
that they notice the gap between how they and others perceive their writing,
thus facilitating the development of analytical and critical reading and
writing skills, enhancing self-reflection and self-expression, promoting a
sense of co-ownership, and hence encouraging students to contribute to
decision- making, and finally, it fosters reflective thinking.

Mohammed Saleh Al-Hadaq, The Effect of Teachers’ Error Correction on the
Acquisition of Newly-Learned Vocabulary, Unpublished Thesis, Colchester: University of Essex,
2003, p. 35.
57

32

The literature also suggests that peer correction is more authentic and
honest than a teacher‟s response, and it gives students the opportunity to
realize that other students experience similar difficulties to their own, and it can
also lead to less writing apprehension and more confidence. Peer correction can
also help develop learners‟ editing skills, and establish a social context for
writing. More importantly, peer correction internalizes the notion of „audience‟
into the minds of student writers, because it provides students with a more
realistic and tangible audience than their teacher, which in turn assists them in
producing „reader-oriented‟ texts.58 There are a few ways to gauge its
effectiveness. First is to collect rough drafts with final drafts and do a quick
comparison of them. The teacher can also ask students to write a brief response to
peer review, explaining how they think it went, which advice they took, and what
was most useful and why. If the teachers ask students to give information, they
will likely want to know what teachers think of their decisions. Finally, to use
peer review multiple times during course, it will be useful to give students
feedback on the quality of their feedback to help them improve their commenting
skills.

58

Ibid, p. 36-37.

33

There are two reasons for peer correction. The first is to get a reader‟s
opinion about the student writing. A reader can tell that the writer should add
more details or explanation, something is not organized clearly, some
information that is not relevant or there is something that is hard to
understand, these comments will help the writer to write the next draft. The
second reason to share writing with others is for the writer to read more
examples of writing. Other writer will have had experiences that can show
fresh ways of writing experiences. Reading their paragraphs can give good
ideas in the future. There are some ways to do peer correction.
1.

Read the other partner‟s work several times. The first time, read from
beginning to the end.

2.

On the second reading, go more slowly and look at specific parts of the
writing and makes some notes.
a. Look for topic sentences and concluding sentences.
b. Note places where something that are hard to understand, where
there seems to be unnecessary information, or where there is not
enough information.
c. Let the writer know which parts of the text are especially strong or
interesting.
d. Ask questions. This is a good way to let the writer know where he or
she could add more information.
e. Circle or underline words, phrases, and sentences that are to
comment on.

34

3.

Don‟t look for grammar or spelling mistakes. Pay attention only to the
content and organization of the work.59

J.

Teacher Written Feedback
1.

Definition of Teacher Written Feedback
Teacher written feedback refers to written responses provided by the
teacher to the students‟ writing. The responses are limited to comments
on grammatical errors and content of the students‟ writing. This type of
feedback is probably the most traditional and commonly-used
techniques of responding to students‟ writing in every teaching context
where writing teachers are usually the sole providers of comments to
their students. Research about teacher-written feedback falls into two
main categories; the first looks into teachers‟ actual performance and
self-assessment, while the other looks at the topic from the students‟
perspective. As far as the first category is concerned, teachers‟ feedback
can take the form of praise (positive comments), criticism (negative
comments), or suggestions (constructive criticism). Teachers can
determine the content of the feedback by considering the elements of the
writing that are strong or that need more work. It is important to identify
positive features of the writing. Students do not always find positive
comments helpful to improve their writing, they appreciate receiving
praise to nurture their confidence as writers and their motivation to write.
It makes the students most helpful in guiding their revisions. They

59

Dorothy E Zemach and Lisa A Rumisek, Academic Writing from Paragraph to Essay,
Spain: Macmillan Publisher, 2005, p. 22

35

appreciate teachers getting involved with the subject of their writing, but
do not like to have their ideas questioned or criticized.
2.

Teachers’ Techniques for Providing Feedback
Teachers, in responding to their students, utilize different techniques
ranging from correcting all errors to merely indicating the location of
errors. Ther e a r e s o m e different techniques to improve students‟
writing. What follows is a discussion of these techniques and their roles
in helping students learn the skill of writing.60
a.

Direct feedback
In the literature of error correction, the similar kind of direct
feedback can be referred to direct correction. Direct feedback refers
to teacher providing „correct linguistic form‟ for students (e.g. word,
morpheme, phrase, rewritten sentence, deleted word [s] or
morpheme [s]). Example of direct feedback:
Talkative
I don‟t like Supha because she is speak non stop.

b.

Coded feedback
Coded feedback is a type of indirect feedback and can be
referred to error identification in which occurs when the teacher
explicitly indicates that errors have been committed and provides a
brief explanation without any correction and leaves it to the student
to correct by themselves. Example of coded feedback :

60

Dorothy E Zemach and Lisa A Rumisek, Academic Writing from Paragraph to Essay,
Spain: Macmillan Publisher, 2005, p. 11.

36

V
I drive very fast to the university yesterday.
c.

Uncoded feedback
As opposed to coded feedback, it can be referred to error
location. The teacher simply locates an error by circling it,
underlining it, highlighting it or putting a checkmark in the margin.
This feedback is more complicated in that students‟ correct their
errors by identifying them and use their acquired knowledge to self
correct such errors. Example of uncoded feedback:
There are many dog in this house. 61

3.

Types of Teacher Feedback
There are types of teacher feedback:62
Comment
types:
1. Praise

2. Criticism

Examples:
Positive comments, * Well written! Much
non-controlling
improved.
*
Quite
nicely
structured.
Negative comments *Contradictory
or
evaluations, sentences. Confusing
authoritative
* Careless with the
transition of
ideas!

Chittima Kaweera and Siriluck Usaha, „The Impact of Different Types of Teacher
Written Feedback on EFL University Students‟ Writing‟, KKU Res J: Study of English, Volume 8,
Number 2, June 2008, p. 87.
62
Lia Hamp-Lyons and Julia Chen, „An Investigation into the Effectiveness of Teacher
Feedback on Student Writing‟, The Hongkong Polytechnic University: Action Learning Project,
1999, p. 211-212.
61

37

3. Imperative

Comments that tell
the student writer to
do
or
change
something, usually
starting with a verb
in the imperative
form

* Be specific.
* Do not change the
tone
and
style
suddenly.
Be
consistent.

4. Advice

Suggestive
comments often in
conditional mode

5.Closed
question

Questions that either
get a „yes‟ or „no‟ as
answer, or else a
simple
one-word
answer

* Maybe you could
add some details here.
* Perhaps you could
expand
the
topic
sentence.
* Do you think you‟ve
given an adequate
evaluation?
* Is this word used
literally or figuratively

6.Open
question

Questions
that
require more than a
„yes‟ or „no‟ answer,
often starting with
„what‟,
„where‟,
„why‟,
„who‟,
„when‟ and „how‟

7. Mechanics

Comments that deal
appreciate
with
grammar, I am appreciated the
punctuation,
help of the people at the
spelling,
word counter.
choice etc.
verb
Although
parents
permission him to…
No comments except
??
a
„?‟,
usually Many
argument
meaning
„don‟t government get attract
understand‟
more
people
from
oversea.

8. „?‟ -

* Who gives / gets the
lessons?
* What does this
mean?

K. An Experiment Study
An experiment is a scientific investigation in which the researcher
manipulates one or more independent variables, controls any other relevant
variables, and observes the effect of the manipulations on the dependent

38

variable(s). An experimenter deliberately and systematically introduces
change and then observes the consequences of that change. Only research
problems that permit a researcher to manipulate conditions are appropriate
for experimental research. The goal of experimental research is to
determine whether a causal relationship exists between two or more
variables. Because the experiment involves control and careful observation
and measurement, this research method provides the most convincing
evidence of the effect that one variable has on another.63 The essential
requirements for experimental research are control, manipulation of the
independent variable, and observation and measurement.64
1.

Control
Control of variables is the essence of the experimental method.
When a study is completed, researchers want to attribute the outcome to
the experimental treatment. To do this, they must eliminate all other
possible explanations by controlling the influence of irrelevant variables.
Without control it is impossible to evaluate unambiguously the effects of
an independent variable or to make inferences about causality.65

2.

Manipulation
The manipulation of an independent variable is a deliberate
operation performed by the experimenter. In educational research and

63

Donald Ary, Lucy Cheser Jacobs, Chris Sorensen and Asghar Razavieh, Introduction to
Research in Education (Eight Edition), United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010, p.
265.
64
Ibid, p. 267.
65
Donald Ary, Lucy Cheser Jacobs, Chris Sorensen and Asghar Razavieh, Introduction to
Research in Education (Eight Edition), United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010, p
.267.

39

other behavioral sciences, the manipulation of an independent variable
involves setting up different treatment conditions. Treatment is another
word for the experimental manipulation of the independent variable. The
different treatment conditions administered to the subjects in the
experiment are the levels of the independent variable.66
3.

Observation and Measurement
After applying the experimental treatment, the researcher observes
to determine if the hypothesized change has occurred. Some changes can
be observed directly, whereas other changes are measured indirectly.
Learning, for example, is often the dependent variable in educational
research. Researchers cannot measure learning directly. They can only
estimate learning through scores on an achievement test or other
measures chosen according to the operational definition. Therefore,
strictly speaking, the dependent variable is observed scores rather than
learning per se.67

L. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) is a statistical method used to test
differences between two or more means. It may seem odd that the technique
is called "Analysis of Variance" rather than "Analysis of Means.68 ANOVA
is a statistical procedure used to analyze the data from a study with more than

66

Ibid, p. 268.
Donald Ary, Lucy Cheser Jacobs, Chris Sorensen and Asghar Razavieh, Introduction to
Research in Education (Eight Edition), United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010, p.
269.
68
David M. Lane, http://onlinestatbook.com/2/analysis_of_variance/intro.html (Accessed
on December, 10 2013)
67

40

two groups.69 In analysis of variance, as in the t test, a ratio comparing
observed differences to the error term is used to test hypotheses about the
differences among groups. This ratio, called F ratio, employs the variance
2

( ) of

group means as a measure of observed differences among groups. The

F ratio is named for R. A. Fisher, the early statistician who developed it.
Because ANOVA can be used with more than two groups, it is a more
versatile technique than the t test. A t test can be used only to test a difference
between two means. ANOVA can test the difference between two or more
means.
The general rationale of ANOVA is that the total variance of all
subjects in an experiment can be subdivided into two sources: variance
between groups and variance within groups. Variance between groups is
incorporated into the numerator in the F ratio. Variance within groups is
incorporated into the error term or denominator, as it is in the t test. As
variance between groups increases, the F ratio increases. As variance within
groups increases, the F ratio decreases. The number of subjects influences the
F ratio: The larger the number, the larger the numerator becomes. When the
numerator and denominator are equal, the differences between group means
are no greater than would be expected by chance alone. If the numerator is
greater than the denominator, you consult the table of F values to determine

69

Donald Ary, Lucy Cheser Jacobs, Chris Sorensen and Asghar Razavieh, Introduction to
Research in Education (Eight Edition), United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010, p.
178.

41

whether the ratio is great enough to reject the null hypothesis at the
predetermined level.70
In the present study, the researcher wanted to measure the effect of
peer correction and teacher written feedback on the students‟ paragraph. To
measure this problem, the researcher varied both peer correction and teacher
written feedback. The layout for an experiment measuring the combined
effects of two or more independent variables is called a counterbalanced
design, and the results are analyzed by means of a multifactor analysis of
variance. In this study, there were two independent variables were measured,
so the researcher used the analysis a two-way repeated measures analysis of
variance. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA (also known as a two-factor
repeated measures ANOVA, two-factor or two-way ANOVA with repeated
measures, or within-within-subjects ANOVA). A two-way repeated measures
ANOVA is often used in studies where you have measured a dependent
variable over two or more time points, or when subjects have undergone two
or more conditions (i.e., the two factors are "peer correction" and "teacher
written feedback"). The primary purpose of two-way repeated measures
ANOVA is to understand if there is an interaction between these two factors
on the dependent variable.

70

Donald Ary, Lucy Cheser Jacobs, Chris Sorensen and Asghar Razavieh, Introduction to
Research in Education (Eight Edition), United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010, p.
179.